Raymond Burr, Actor, 76, Dies - Played Perry Mason and Ironside - NYTimes.com Raymond Burr, Actor, 76, Dies; Played Perry Mason and Ironside By WILLIAM GRIMES Published: September 14, 1993 Raymond Burr, the burly, impassive actor who played the defense lawyer Perry Mason and the police detective Robert T. Ironside on television, died on Sunday at his ranch in Dry Creek Valley, near Healdsburg, Calif. He was 76. The cause was kidney cancer, said his doctor, Paul J. Marguglio. Mr. Burr started his career playing Hollywood heavies, most notably in Alfred Hitchcock's film "Rear Window." But he captivated television audiences with his portrayal of the Los Angeles trial lawyer Perry Mason, who won his first case in September 1957 and continued an unbroken winning streak that lasted nine seasons.

Gravelly-voiced and unrelentingly stern, with a habit of exhaling resonantly through his nostrils, Mason got to the bottom of seemingly unfathomable mysteries every week, relying on the private investigator Paul Drake (played by William Hopper) and his faithful secretary, Della Street (Barbara Hale), to defeat the hapless prosecutor Hamilton Burger (William Talman). To pull off his last-minute courtroom triumphs, Mason often broke down witnesses on the stand or produced surprise witnesses that left the prosecution's case a shambles. One year after "Perry Mason" went off the air in September 1966, Mr. Burr stepped into the role of Robert Ironside, the chief of detectives for the San Francisco police department, who worked from a wheelchair after a would-be assassin's bullet left him paralyzed from the waist down. A Peripatetic Youth Mr. Burr was born in New Westminster, British Columbia, not far from Vancouver. His father was a hardware dealer, and his mother was a pianist and music teacher. Soon after he was born, the family moved to China and lived there for five years.

When Raymond was 6, his parents divorced, and his mother took him to live in a hotel that her father owned in Vallejo, Calif. He attended the San Rafael Military Academy but dropped out at 13 to help support his family in the Depression. After a year working on a cattle and sheep ranch, he returned to school, but he quit before completing junior high school. After leaving school, he ran a weather station for the Forest Service and for a time worked in China, where his family owned property. He took extension courses, taught school, worked as a traveling salesman and wrote short stories. Mr. Burr made his stage debut at 12 with a Vancouver stock company, and throughout his teen-age years he picked up occasional acting work. In 1941, he made his Broadway debut in the musical "Crazy With the Heart." He also appeared in "The Duke in Darkness" on Broadway in 1944 before entering the Navy. Mr. Burr left the Navy in 1946 weighing nearly 350 pounds, and he immediately landed work in films as a villain.

His first screen role, in "Without Reservations" (1946), starring John Wayne and Claudette Colbert led to steady work. In all, he appeared in 90 films. He first made an impression in "Pitfall" (1948), a suspense film starring Dick Powell, and won critical praise as the district attorney who hounds Montgomery Clift in "A Place in the Sun" (1951) and as the murderer in "Rear Window" (1954). One of his most unusual credits was an appearance in the first Godzilla film as a journalist who relays an account of Godzilla's rampage. His other films include "San Quentin" (1947), "The Adventures of Don Juan" (1948), "A Cry in the Night" (1956) and "Desire in the Dust" (1960). More recently, he appeared in "Airplane II: The Sequel"(1982) and "Delirious" (1985). Landing His Biggest Role In 1957, Mr. Burr was chosen over contenders including Fred MacMurray and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

to play the starring role in "Perry Mason," a CBS-TV series based on the mystery novels of Erle Stanley Gardner. In the 1960-61 season, the show was among the five most popular on television, and Mr. Burr twice won Emmy Awards for best actor in a series. Even after the show was canceled, Mason lived on in syndication. Mr. Burr recreated the role in "The New Perry Mason" in 1973, and in a television movie, "Perry Mason Returns," that was the second-highest-rated television movie in the 1985-86 season. It led to 25 more Perry Mason vehicles. After appearing as Ironside on NBC from 1967 to 1975, Mr. Burr played a journalist in "Kingston: Confidential" in 1977. The next year, he appeared in the mini-series "Centennial," and in the late 80's he also was one of the hosts of "Unsolved Mysteries." In August, he completed location work in Denver for "The Case of the Killer Kiss," a Perry Mason television movie. According to the reference work Current Biography, Mr.

Burr was married three times. His first wife, Annette Sutherland, an Englishwoman, was killed in 1943 when the plane in which she was traveling was shot down by the Germans. His second marriage, to Isabella Ward, ended in divorce, and his third wife, Laura Andrina Morgan, died of cancer in 1955. His only child, Michael Evan, by his first marriage, died of leukemia in 1953. Mr. Burr, who was a cooking enthusiast and once owned an art gallery in Beverly Hills, Calif., bought a ranch and vineyard in Sonoma County in 1981, where he raised orchids, tended his vines and fruit trees, and kept sheep. He is survived by a sister, Geraldine Fuller of Fairbanks, Alaska. Photo: Raymond Burr, right, with William Talman in "Perry Mason." (CBS, 1966) Raymond Burr ﻿ When it was announced that Raymond Burr was selected to play Perry Mason a number of critics voiced their skepticism. They reasoned that Burr was so typecast playing villains that viewers would have a difficult time accepting him in the Mason role. And there was some justification to their point.

Burr had made a career playing heavies, and were not talking average bad guys here, he had played some of the most vicious and vile characters appearing on the screen in the film noir era. He played pimps, commies, drug smugglers, sadistic killers, and seemed to be always beating up women. Burr often tipped the scales at 300 lbs or more adding to his menacing screen presence. He was so ensconced as a heavy that he would show up in comedies, almost as a parody of himself. Actors with less a portfolio than Burr’s have been relegated to career villains. So for many, it was a surprise when Erle Stanley Gardner gave his nod for Burr to play Perry Mason. For Burr to be selected was even more surprising when you consider the competition for the role. Nearly 100 actors tested for the part, including Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Mike Conners, Jeff Chandler, Gerald Mohr, Fred MacMurray and Richard Eagan. Burr won out, and Gardner stuck by his decision, even though some Hollywood critics didn’t think much of it.

The circumstances of how Burr was selected, against seemingly long odds, has become a topic of much discussion among the many aspects of the show. The storey has long been circulated that Gardner, upon seeing Burr enter the room on his screen test, jumped to his feet and proclaimed he had found his Perry. Other versions and stories abound. If you read Burr’s bio on Wikipedia for example, the storey goes that Gardner was present when Burr was testing for the role of Hamilton Burger and William Talman was auditioning for the Mason role. Gardner had them change roles and instantly found what he was looking for. Since there seems to be no attributable sources for any of this, it leaves much to doubt. The storey of Gardner’s epiphanies could have been perpetuated by Gardner himself, after Burr had become successful in the role, in order to enhance his image, . It seems illogical that Gardner would have made such a snap decision with so much at stake, but these are the things that legends are made of. We do know Burr was invited to test for the part of Hamilton Burger. He also managed to get an audition for the title role as well. His screen test took place on May 24th, 1956.

From there the storey is whatever version you want to believe. But there may be another angle to this storey. In 1955 Burr appeared in the low budget film noir Please Murder Me. In the film Burr plays a defense attorney defending Angela Lansbury. Could this long forgotten film have been a crucial element in helping Burr get the role of Perry? Is his performance in the film the inspiration for Perry Mason? Did Gardner see this film and make his decision before Burr’s audition? These are interesting questions and the circumstances seem to point that there was a connection. Here you have the film, released in March, 1956, less than two month before Burr auditioned for the Mason role. If you watch Burr in the film you find his actions and mannerisms are nearly identical to those he employed during the run of Perry Mason. He’s playing the same type of role in what amounts to an hour screen test.. It’s inconceivable that the producers or Gardner himself would not have taken the time to view it. And, the producers might have taken much more from this film inasmuch as courtroom style closely matches what would follow on Perry Mason.

The scenes from Please Murder Me look as if they came right out of a Perry Mason episode. Is it a coincident that J. Paul Popkin, the production manager on Please Murder Me, would have the same job on 35 episodes during the first two years of Perry Mason? Al C. Ward, the screenwriter on Please Murder Me, was a writer on five early episodes of the show as well. And yes, that is Lee Miller playing a police officer, a role he would play on Perry Mason in addition to being Burr’s stand in. There certainly seems to be a connection here. RAYMOND BURR BECOMES THE MOST FAMOUS ATTORNEY IN THE WORLD Raymond Burr was appearing in a lot of films in the late 40s and early 50s but not getting much credit. Here are theater posters from two films in which Burr had significant parts, but as you can see his name is far from prominent. Before Perry Mason Raymond Burr was a character actor, albeit a very busy one. His ability to play bad guys so convincingly made him much in demand for tough guy roles . In 1948 alone, he appeared in nine films and another six the following year.

At the same time Burr was working in radio. He had a regular role on Jack Webb’s radio program Pat Novak For Hire in 1949 and the following year he played Webb’s boss in Dragnet. He was concurrently appearing on a number of other radio shows as well. In the year before Perry Mason he had the leading role in the western radio drama, Fort Laramie. It could be argued that Burr was the first actor to achieve stardom through television. By the series fourth season Burr was as popular, well known - and as well paid as any actor in Hollywood. He will forever be remembered for his role as Perry Mason which unfortunately overshadows his other body of work. In the post WWII era Burr was film noir’s most prolific villain but he also brought his brutish characters to every other genre as well, something few other actors have been able to pull off. In Pat Novak For Hire, Burr played Police Inspector Helman and nemesis to private detective Webb. The snappy dialog between Burr and Webb, delivered in a staccato manner is a work of art. In these scenes from Please Murder Me, Raymond Burr had already developed his courtroom style that viewers would come to expect as Perry Mason.

Listen Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Perry Mason' Reboot Lands Hot Writer (Exclusive) | Hollywood Reporter Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Perry Mason' Reboot Lands Hot Writer (Exclusive) 12:00 PM PST 2/17/2012 by Borys Kit COMMENTS Getty Images The studio is negotiating with Marc Guggenheim to write the script for the movie version of the defense attorney made famous by Raymond Burr. Marc Guggenheim is in negotiations to write the big-screen adventures of Perry Mason, set up at Warner Bros. as a potential starring vehicle for Robert Downey Jr. PHOTOS: Hollywood's Highest Grossing Actors Downey also is producing with his wife and partner Susan Downey and their banner Team Downey, along with Robert Cort. Mason is a defense attorney character at the center of a series of books by Erle Stanley Gardner that were first adapted as films and radio plays in the 1930s. The books were hugely popular but the character's appeal reached new heights with the TV series that starred Raymond Burr and ran from 1957 to 1966.

Guggenheim is writing a script based off an original story by Downey and Team Downey president David Gambino, bringing the character back to Los Angeles of the 1930s. PHOTOS: Marvel's 'The Avengers' Movie Stills Guggenheim will likely call upon his previous career as an attorney when tackling the script. The scribe practiced in Boston before embarking on a writing career. His early scripts centered around law and attorneys as he worked on shows such as The Practice and Law & Order. He also co-created the legal dramedy Eli Stone. Gambino, Eric Hetzel and Joe Horacek are exec producing with Susan Feiles and Chris Darling. Jon Berg is overseeing for Warners. Guggenheim also is a comic book writer, having worked for Marvel and DC Comics. He co-wrote the Green Lantern movie and is exec producing and co-writing Arrow, CW’s take on DC’s Green Arrow hero. He is repped by WME and Ziffren Brittenham. Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com Raymond Burr Dies; Played Perry Mason : Actor: He portrayed a crusading defense attorney in the popular TV series.

He was also known for his role in the movie 'Rear Window.' - latimes Raymond Burr Dies; Played Perry Mason : Actor: He portrayed a crusading defense attorney in the popular TV series. He was also known for his role in the movie 'Rear Window.' September 13, 1993 | From Times Staff and Wire Reports Raymond Burr, who began his dramatic career portraying an unsavory assortment of hoodlums, killers and villains, and climaxed it as the legendary attorney who defended them, died Sunday night at his Sonoma County ranch. He was 76, and had been suffering from cancer, a friend said. Although his movie roles often cast the heavyset Canadian-born actor as a bad guy--such as the murderer who menaced James Stewart in "Rear Window"--it was by television roles as the crusading defense attorney in "Perry Mason," which ran for nine seasons, and later the wheelchair-bound San Francisco police detective in the series "Ironside," that his fame was cemented.

So popular was the late 1950s-early 1960s lawyer series that won him two Emmys, that when the Perry Mason role was revived in a 1985 made-for-TV film, it earned the year's highest ratings for such a movie, and prompted a Perry Mason revival. The TV show is still in reruns. Burr completed his last Perry Mason film in mid-August in Denver, showing up on the set at 4 a.m. in a wheelchair. After the filming, he returned to his vineyards and farm in Northern California, where he died. His friend Charles Macaulay said Burr's doctor, Paul Margulio, gave the cause as metastatic cancer of the liver. Six feet tall and deep-voiced, with mesmerizing eyes, Burr had tried his hand at virtually ever kind of acting, from the original camp classic "Godzilla" to the varied roles of a repertory theater tour of England in his youth, to a stint as a singer in a Paris nightclub before World War II. Raymond William Stacy Burr was born in British Columbia in 1917, the eldest of three children of a Canadian hardware dealer and American organist.

His parents divorced when he was 6, and Raymond grew up in Vallejo, Calif. Later in life, he would recount how he had worked at many jobs to make ends meet, such as a stint on a New Mexico ranch at age 13, where he "mended fence, milked cows, helped with births of lambs and calves, and rode for miles." He served in the Navy during World War II, returning to Canada from his nightclub work at a Left Bank cafe called the Ruban Bleu, and made his film debut in "San Quentin" in 1946. Unlike many in his craft, he was virtually never at a loss for work: His commanding figure and compelling eyes made him a natural for such roles as Montgomery Clift's prosecutor in "A Place in the Sun," the man who stalked Natalie Wood in "A Cry in the Night," and the murderer Jimmy Stewart spots in "Rear Window." But it was television that made his deep-timbred voice and bulky figure famous, and made Burr wealthy.

If the formula of "Perry Mason" was always the same--the dedicated attorney outsmarting the prosecutor to see justice done, often in gripping witness stand revelations--it enthralled audiences, making him TV's most successful lawyer for nine seasons, from 1957 to 1966. Even Pope John XXIII was a fan, and granted Burr an audience. "Perry Mason went on the air when people were first buying television sets," Burr said in an Associated Press interview this year. "A lot of people in this country didn't know what their legal system was all about. I'm sure just from the people who have watched the show over the years, particularly the minorities, they found out the system of justice was for them." He dismissed criticism by real attorneys (including many prosecutors, annoyed at seeing their side lose week after week) that such drama ruined people for the necessary tedium of real justice.

"Every bit of (Perry Mason) was within the framework of what could happen in a court in the county of Los Angeles or the state of California." Burr returned to law and order as the unflappable San Francisco detective in the 1960s-'70s series "Ironside," and returned to Perry Mason in 1985, for the popular TV movie "Perry Mason." But a brief series in which he played an investigative reporter, "Kingston: Confidential," lasted only 13 episodes in 1977. In the TV movies, Barbara Hale again played his loyal secretary--the two had known each other for a half-century, since their days at RKO--and at last Burr had something to say about the question viewers had been asking for nearly 30 years. "People would say: 'Is he sleeping with Della Street, and if not, why not?"' Burr said this year. "Fifty percent of them want him to, and 50 percent don't want him to. I try to play both 50 percents." Burr married three times. His first wife died in a plane shot down by the Nazis in World War II.

He divorced his second wife, and his third wife died of cancer. His son died of leukemia at age 10. Burr's hobby was raising orchids; he developed thousands of kinds, and donated his collection to Cal Poly Pomona in 1982 when it outgrew his premises. Burr is survived by Geraldine Fuller, his sister, who lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, and his longtime business associate and companion, actor Robert Benevides. MORE: Raymond Burr - Biography - IMDb Raymond Burr Biography Showing all 48 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (3) | Trivia (36) | Personal Quotes (2) Overview (5) 6' 1½" (1.87 m) Mini Bio (1) Born Raymond William Stacy Burr on 21 May 1917 in New Westminster, British Columbia, Burr spent most of his early life traveling. As a youngster, his father moved his family to China, where the elder Burr worked as a trade agent. When the family returned to Canada, Raymond's parents separated.

He and his mother moved to Vallejo, California, where she raised him with the aid of her parents. As he got older, Burr began to take jobs to support his mother, younger sister and younger brother. He took jobs as a ranch hand in Roswell, New Mexico; as a deputy sheriff; a photo salesman; and even as a singer in nightclubs. In World War II, Burr served in the United States Navy. In Okinawa, he was shot in the stomach and sent home. In 1946, Burr made his film debut in San Quentin (1946). From there, he appeared in more than 90 films before landing the role of defense attorney Perry Mason (1957). After a battle with cancer, Burr died at age 76 on September 12, 1993 at his ranch home in Sonoma, California. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Kelleher, Brian Spouse (1) Had an art gallery on Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive in the early 1950s. Loved to cook and throw intimate dinner parties.

While working with Errol Flynn , Flynn told him that if he died with ten dollars in his pocket he hadn't done a good job. This inspired him to always share his wealth with all. On October 1, 1993, a memorial service was held at the Pasadena Playhouse. It was the very same theater in which Burr had made his acting debut 50 years before. A director's chair with his name on it, placed at center stage, played host to friends who paid tribute. Suffered eye strain from always having to look upwards while in a wheelchair on the Ironside (1967) set. Was a lounge singer in his younger days. Before dying from cancer he threw parties to say farewell to many of his friends. Interred at Fraser Cemetery, New Westminister, British Columbia, Canada. Bought his own 3,000-acre island 165 miles northeast of Suva in Fiji in 1965 and named it Naitamba, where he raised cattle and copra. Left his $32-million estate solely to long-term partner Robert Benevides .

The Columbia Theatre on Columbia Street in New Westminster, British Columbia, was renamed in his honor in 2000. He, Michael J. Fox and Jim Carrey head a list of top Canadians in United States television compiled by Banff Television Festival in June 2002. He was the director of the Pasadena Community Playhouse before entering the United States Navy in World War II. He attended Stanford, Columbia and Chungking Universities. He taught drama at Columbia University. He was incredibly generous, giving most of his money to charities and sharing it with friends. Longtime companion of Robert Benevides . Benevides was a young actor Burr met on the set of the original Perry Mason (1957) television series. He was 13 years Raymond's junior. He had a small role in the sci-fi film The Monster That Challenged the World (1957), billed as Bob Benevedes. His official biography stated that he had been married three times, but two of his wives and one child had died. However, these details were fabricated in an attempt to hide the fact that Burr was gay. Only one brief marriage had actually occurred, and it had ended in divorce. The other two marriages and the child were fiction.

Was the original host of Unsolved Mysteries (1987), hosting only its first special in January 1987. He was then briefly replaced by Karl Malden . However, both actors requested salaries that producer John Cosgrove deemed astronomical. So by the time the show became a regular series in 1988, Robert Stack had been hired as the permanent host at what the producer believed to be a more reasonable salary. In 1990, not long before he grew ill with cancer, Burr and longtime partner Robert Benevides started a vineyard at their Dry Creek Valley ranch, and released their first vintage. The wine was bottled in November 1992 and released after Burr's death in 1995. He had an interest in, and knowledge of, the cultivation and hybridization of orchids. He and partner of 35 years, Robert Benevides , set up Sea God Nurseries, becoming, in the 20-odd years of its operation, an international presence with ranges in Fiji, Hawaii, the Azores and Southern California. They were responsible for over 1,500 new orchids added to the worldwide catalog.

Burr cultivated an orchid that he named after his former Perry Mason (1957), co-star, Barbara Hale , as the symbol of friendship. He is commemorated on a 2008 Canadian postage stamp, one of four honoring achievements of Canadians in Hollywood. The other three depict Norma Shearer , Marie Dressler , and Chief Dan George . Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 3, 1991-1993, pages 84-85. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. Featured in "Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir" by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry (McFarland, 2003). His parents, Minerva and William Burr, after 33 years of separation, remarried in 1955. After he was diagnosed with kidney cancer, he refused to undergo surgery so that he could star in his final television movies: The Return of Ironside (1993) and Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss (1993).

His mother Minerva died in 1974, at age 81 of cancer, while his father, William, died in 1985, at age 96. Dropped out of San Rafael Military School at age 17 to join the Civilian Conservation Corps, where he learned to fight forest fires and plant trees. His parents were married in Canada in 1914, after they migrated from Chicago, Illinois. Was considered for the role of Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke (1955). In an August 23, 1975, article in TV Guide called "When Chester Forgot to Limp" commemorating trivia from the show as it was about to leave the air, the show's first producer Charles Marquis Warren recalled, "His voice was fine, but he was too big. When he stood up, his chair stood up with him". William Conrad , who played Matt Dillon on radio, was rejected for the TV version for similar reasons. In a memorial article in TV Guide published shortly after Burr's death, the original producers of Perry Mason (1957) almost rejected Burr for that role, again because Burr was overweight.

He went on an intensive diet to get down to a size acceptable to the producers. Appears as lawyer Perry Mason, with William Talman as District Attorney Hamilton Burger, on a 44¢ USA commemorative postage stamp in the "Early TV Memories" issue honoring Perry Mason (1957), issued 11 August 2009. Best remembered by the public for his starring roles as the title characters of both series: Perry Mason (1957) and Ironside (1967). Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6656 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Matt & Andrej Koymasky - Famous GLTB - Raymond Burr Last update of this page: May 3rd 2003 Raymond Burr (May 21, 1917 - September 12, 1993) Canada - U.S.A. Actor Raymond Burr (né Raymond William Stacey Burr) gained fame playing mainly bad guys, as the murderer in Hitchcock's Rear Window.

He later starred in two successful television series, as the crime-solving lawyer in Perry Mason (1957-66) and as the wheelchair-bound detective in Ironside (1967-75). Although are list three spouses for Raymond Burr, the actor's friends and relatives are adamant that he was married only once - to Isabella Ward - and that he was childless throughout life. Burr apparently made up and promulgated the stories of his fictitious marriages (to real-life women with which he had acted off-Broadway) and even claimed that he had fathered a son by his first wife. But it was all false; he did all this to hide his homosexuality. He left his $32-million estate solely to his (presumed) lover Rob Benevides. Before dying from cancer in Sonoma, California, he threw some grand parties to say farewell to many of his friends. He is interred at Fraser Cemetery, New Westminister, British Columbia, Canada. Raymond Burr, born on May 21, 1917, in New Westminister, British Columbia, Canada, a city near Vancouver. He was the eldest of three children born to Minerva and William Burr.

His father ran a hardware store in town; his mother played the organ in church and in movie houses. When Ray was just a baby, his father became a trade agent and traveled to China, taking his family with him. But upon returning to Canada, he and his wife separated. From the age of six, Ray was raised by his mother and his grandparents, who ran a hotel in Vallejo, California. Here he attended the San Rafael Military Academy, aspiring to be a naval officer. Although his parents later remarried, Burr spent a good part of his adolescence picking up odd jobs to help support his mother and his younger sister and brother. He has said he went hungry many times in his youth. At age thirteen, he was a ranch hand in Roswell, New Mexico. Later, he became a famous loungeroom singer, a traveling photo salesman, a manager of a chain store, a deputy sheriff, an agent for some property his grandfather owned in China, and a fire guard for the Forest Service. An overweight child, Burr was often the butt of jokes by fellow classmates. In the midst of the Depression he withdrew from the academy, abandoning his military career.

For a while, Burr worked as a cattle and sheep rancher, returning to school after his family's financial situation improved. Though Burr was an avid reader, his schooling was, for the most part, improvised. This included adult education courses at Stanford, Columbia, the University of California and, for a time, Chungking University. The effort finally culminated in a master's degree in psychology. Although he starred in a church play when he was ten, and haunted the smaller theaters in San Francisco in the early 1930s, Burr's first serious foray into acting came in 1936. Then nineteen, he met film director Anatole Litvak, who arranged for him to work in a summer theater in Toronto. A tour of Great Britain as part of a repertory company soon followed, as did a trip to Australia. Later, he landed a job singing in a nightclub in pre-World War II Paris. Due to his mother's musical talent, Burr was raised with a taste for the arts. While in his teens he was encouraged to pursue acting. During the late 1930s, he joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where he first developed his acting skills.

After appearing in a number of local productions, Burr made his way to New York where he made his theatrical debut in the 1940 Broadway play Crazy with the Heat. In 1944, his performance in the period drama Duke in Darkness caught the attention of a Hollywood talent scout who set up a screen test with RKO. The studio saw promise in Burr, and signed him on as a contract player. He made his feature film debut in the comedy Without Reservations (1946), co-starring Claudette Colbert and John Wayne. While he was touring with the repertory company, he met and married his first wife, an Englishwoman named Annette Sutherland. They had a son, Michael Evan, who was raised by Annette's parents in England. While his wife remained in Europe, Burr returned to New York, where he set out in search of better roles. Producers showed little interest in him, though, and once again he was forced to work odd jobs to support himself.

He finally got a part in the play Duke of Darkness, but because he had been locked out of his hotel (for nonpayment) and couldn't get at his baggage, he was forced to rehearse for two weeks in the same clothes. The play opened, and Burr's reviews were good enough to attract the attention of an agent named Edith Van Cleve. She got him to go to Hollywood. Once on the West Coast, he directed nine shows at the Pasadena Playhouse, but then he returned to Broadway and later played a season on the stage in Denver. He was grateful for the stage work, but his dream was to act in films. He continued to look for movie parts and in doing so, continued to struggle. One drawback was his weight; everyone told him he was just too plump to land any major roles. After arriving in Hollywood, Burr enjoyed a steady stream of roles in various films noir, often playing the sadistic villain, including Desperate, and Raw Deal. His future seemed to be pre-ordained when he appeared as a relentless prosecuting attorney in A Place in the Sun, with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor.

A few years later he landed his most recognizable big screen role as a sociopath in the Alfred Hitchcock classic Rear Window, with Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly. Highlights of his early career also included roles in Please Murder Me, Secret of Treasure Mountain, and Crime of Passion. He also had a rare lead part as the chief reporter Steve Martin in the American version of Godzilla, King of the Monsters. Burr eventually found his niche in television when author Erle Stanley Gardner handpicked him to play the fictional defense attorney Perry Mason. From 1957-66, Burr starred in the title role of the courtroom drama. Despite initial unfavorable reviews, audiences hailed the show, and it quickly gained a loyal following of viewers. The CBS series ran for nine seasons, during which Burr earned two Best Actor Emmy Awards. In 1967, he created his second signature title role with another successful TV drama, Ironside (1967-75), in which he played a paraplegic detective. Then in 1985, Burr returned as the ever-victorious Perry Mason in Perry Mason Returns. The television movie met with success, introducing a whole new generation to the classic character.

Shortly after, Burr was contracted to reprise his role in over two dozen Perry Mason TV movies during the '80s and '90s. In 1993, he completed work on his last Perry Mason mystery The Case of the Killer Kiss. For millions of television viewers Raymond Burr was the quintessential lawyer, whose name became synonymous with American jurisprudence. However, his private life was as enigmatic as the mysteries he solved on the screen. He claimed to have been married three times: to a Scottish actress named Annette Sutherland, who died in a plane crash; to Adrina Laura Morgan, who died of cancer; and to Isabella Ward. In 1947, Burr did in fact wed Ward, while both were drama students at the Pasadena Playhouse (the marriage was annulled three months later). On the other hand, there is little documentation of the other two marriages, and their legitimacy remains questionable. Toward the end of his life, Burr lived on a vineyard in Sonoma County with his companion and business partner of over 30 years, Robert Benevides. They were rumored to be lovers, and the nature of their close relationship has been the subject of controversy.

In addition to his California residence, Burr maintained a home on a Fiji islands, where he cultivated rare orchids. He was an avid art collector, owning a gallery in Beverly Hills for a short time. Over the years, he was a generous philanthropist and foster parent to over 20 children throughout the world. Burr died of cancer at his 40-acre ranch in California - he was 76 years old. Born as Raymond 'William Stacy' Burr, 21 May 1917, in New Westminster, British Columbia, Burr spent most of his early life travelling. While still young, his father moved his family to China, while the elder Burr worked as a trade agent. When the family returned to Canada, Raymond's parents divorced; his mother then took him to Vallejo, California, where she raised him with the aid of his grandparents. As he got older, Burr began to take jobs to support his mother, younger sister and younger brother. He took jobs as a ranch hand in Roswell, New Mexico; as a deputy sheriff; a photo salesman; and even as a singer in night clubs. In World War Two, Burr served in the Navy.

When in Okinawa, he was shot in the stomach and sent home. Soon after this, in 1946, Burr made his film debut in San Quentin. From there, he went on to act in more than 90 films before landing the role of defense attorney "Perry Mason" (1957) in the series of the same name. Then, in 1993, after a battle with cancer that dated back to his days on "Perry Mason", Burr died on 12 September 1993 at his ranch home. Sources: © 2000 A&E Television Networks.

All rights reserved and biography by Kelleher, Brian Films and TV: Code of the West (1947) I Love Trouble (1948) Key to the City (1950) Bride of the Gorilla (1951) M, FBI Girl (1951) Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953) Fort Algiers (1953) Great Day in the Morning (1956) Ride the High Iron (1956) A Cry in the Night (1956) King of the Monsters! (1956) Crime of Passion (1957) Desire in the Dust (1960) P.J.

(1968) Out of the Blue (1980) Delirious (1991) Walk a Crooked Mile (1948) Station West (1948) Adventures of Don Juan (1948) Abandoned (1949) A Place in the Sun (1951) His Kind of Woman (1951) A Star Shall Rise (1952) Meet Danny Wilson (1952) Serpent of the Nile (1953) The Blue Gardenia (1953) The Bandits of Corsica (1953) Mannequin für Rio (1954) You're Never Too Young (1955) Count Three and Pray (1955) The Brass Legend (1956) Secret of Treasure Mountain (1956) Please Murder Me (1956) Perry Mason (TV Series) (1957) Ironside (TV Series) (1967) Attention:You are browsing our famous burial locations. If you are looking for a non-famous grave, please start from our home page . b.

May 21, 1917 d. September 12, 1993 Actor. He is best remembered for his roles in the CBS drama series "Perry Mason" as the defense lawyer by the same name, that aired from September 1957 until May 1966 and continues to run in syndication, and the NBC television crime show "Ironside," as the paraplegic Chief of Detectives 'Robert T. Ironside', that aired from September 1967 until January 1975. Born Raymond William Stacey Burr, his father was a hardware salesman and his mother was a concert pianist and music teacher. At the age of... [Read More] (Bio by: William Bjornstad ) b. September 13, 1920 d. February 8, 1990 World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. He received the award from US President Harry S.

Truman on August 23, 1945 in the East Room of the White House (along with 27 other World War II recipients), Washington DC, for his actions as a staff sergeant in Company C, 41st Tank Battalion, 11th Armored Division, US Army, on March 19, 1945, near Dorrmoschel, Germany during the final stages of World War II in Europe. He was born September 13, 1920 in St. Joseph, Missouri and died in... [Read More] (Bio by: William Bjornstad ) Plot: Garden of Valor Section, Next to Toohey and Long b. May 11, 1908 d. December 25, 1942 World War II Medal of Honor Recipient. He posthumously received the award on October 11, 1943 for his actions as a first sergeant in Company I, 127th Infantry Regiment, US Army on December 25, 1942 during the Buna Campaign in New Guinea during World War II.

He joined the Wisconsin Army National Guard at age 20, serving in the 32nd Division. When it was federalized in 1940, he was discharged for being over the 28-year age limit but re-enlisted with his unit after the Japanese attack on Pearl... [Read More] (Bio by: William Bjornstad ) Plot: Veteran�s Section, Lot 163 b. January 11, 1755 d. July 12, 1804 Founding Father, Statesman. The thirteen states after the Revolutionary War were weak and still separate. Alexander Hamilton was the strong voice calling for a strong united government with a new Constitution and then most instrumental in the formation and convening of the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia which established the United States of America. He was born southeast of Florida on Nevis, a small island making up the group in the Caribbean known as the West Indies. His mother... [Read More] (Bio by: Donald Greyfield (inactive) ) of Barcelona IV., Raymond Berenguer b. April 4, 1113 d.

August 6, 1162 Count of Barcelona, King of Aragon from 1150 to 1162. Son of Ramon III Berenger and Douce of Provence, hence he inherited Barcelona on his father's death. He was married to Petronilla de Aragon on August 11, 1137 when she was an infant of one or two years old. Her father, Ramiro II de Aragon "The Monk" had preferred the duties of a monk to the duties of a king, had been forced out of seclusion to rule, marry and produce an heir, which he did. Once he married her to Raymond, he gave all rights... [Read More] (Bio by: Anne Shurtleff Stevens ) b. March 17, 1908 d. July 11, 1984 Organized Crime Figure. He was born on Shrewsbury Street to Italian immigrant parents. When he was 3, his father, Eleuterio, moved the family to Atwells Avenue in the Federal Hill section of Providence RI where he operated a package store.

Raymond left school after the 8th grade and worked at the Biltmore Hotel, in Providence, as a bellhop and shoeshine boy for 2 years. He soon discovered crime paid better and, after his father's death, February 17, 1925, he would later tell congressional... [Read More] (Bio by: Matthew Fatale ) Cause of death: Cardiac Arrest Mackaye, Dorothy b. May 8, 1899 d. January 5, 1940 Actress, Playwright. Her name is scarcely remembered today; she wasn't even a star in her own time. But she was once known as an infamous femme fatale, the focal point of a deadly love triangle that rocked the movie community in the waning days of the silent era. A native of Denver, Colorado (although she claimed she was born in Scotland), Mackaye began performing in vaudeville and made her Broadway debut in "The Very Idea" (1917). She had good supporting roles in several musical... [Read More] (Bio by: Bobb Edwards ) Cause of death: automobile accident Plot: Ashes buried in an unrecorded location.

The grave is unmarked. [unmarked] b. June 15, 1865 d. June 2, 1953 Actor. Apeared in films of the 1930s and 1940s. (Bio by: A.J. Marik ) Plot: Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Sanctity, N-21468 b. August 21, 1862 d. April 28, 1942 American motion picture actor of the 1910s, 20s, and 30s. Died of a heart attack in 1942. (Bio by: A.J. Marik ) Plot: Wee Kirk Churchyard, next to the Taylor Monument b. October 24, 1927 d. November 14, 2000 A movie and television art director whose work garnered numerous awards, as well as Emmy and Oscar nominations. He was also an ardent naturalist and animal rights activist. Plot: Section 430, Site 464 Babbitt, Edwin Burr b.

January 8, 1803 d. December 10, 1881 Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. Graduated from the USMA in 1826 (his classmates included future CSA Generals Albert S. Johnston and John B. Grayson, as well as future Union Generals Samuel P. Heintzelman and Silas Casey). A veteran of the Mexican War, Babbitt's Civil War service consisted of duty as Colonel & Chief Quartermaster, Department of the Pacific. His brevet promotion to Brigadier General, United States Regular Army, was awarded on March 13, 1865, for "faithful and... [Read More] (Bio by: Connie Nisinger ) Plot: Section OPS1, Grave 2175 b. October 13, 1917 d. December 6, 1985 Television Entertainer. A puppeteer, he is best remembered for his creation of "Kukla, Fran and Ollie". He was the 1979 winner of an UNIMA Citation of Excellence Award from the American Chapter of the Union Internationale de la Marionnette.

In addition, he has more than 50 entertainment awards, including five Emmys. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he became a puppeteer early in his life, using teddy bears, dolls and other objects to entertain the neighborhood children. While attending the... [Read More] (Bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson ) Plot: Section 16, Lot 80, sub-lot 5 b. November 8, 1829 d. June 10, 1882 US Congressman. He moved to Springfield, Illinois, completed preparatory studies, taught school for several years, then moved to Winchester, Illinois, in 1850. He engaged in mercantile pursuits, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1856 and commenced to practice law. He was a member of the Illinois State House of Representatives, (1861-64) and was member of the Illinois State constitutional convention. In 1867, he was elected as a Democrat to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses, serving...

[Read More] (Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith ) A Shroud of Thoughts: Perry Mason: The Case of the Disappearing Defence Attorney Friday, 11 January 2013 Perry Mason: The Case of the Disappearing Defence Attorney It is quite possible that Perry Mason is the most famous, fictional lawyer of all time. Created by Erle Stanley Gardner, the character first appeared in the 1933 novel The Case of the Velvet Claws. He proved popular enough to appear in over 80 novels. Hollywood was unsuccessful in bringing the crime solving lawyer to the big screen, with only six movies made from 1934 to 1937, but a radio show based on the novels, Perry Mason, ran from 1943 to 1955 on CBS Radio. Despite the success of the novels and the radio show, however, the most famous incarnation of Perry Mason may have been on the television show that ran on CBS from 1957 to 1966. On television Perry Mason proved to be a smash hit, ranking in the top thirty shows for six of its nine years.

Reruns of the show proved very successful in syndication, and it is still rerun to this day. In 1985 the show was revived in a series of TV movies that continued until Raymond Burr died in 1993. To this day when many people think of the character of Perry Mason, they think of actor Raymond Burr. Given how much Raymond Burr was identified with the role of Perry Mason and how much the character of Perry Mason is identified with Raymond Burr, it might surprise many to know that in the show's sixth season its producers did the unthinkable. They produced episodes of Perry Mason without Perry Mason. Quite simply, there are four episodes in the sixth season in which Raymond Burr appears as Perry Mason for only a few minutes. In Perry Mason's place the cases are tried by other lawyers, each played by a well known guest star: Bette Davis, Michael Rennie, Hugh O'Brian, and Walter Pidgeon. The reason for Raymond Burr's absence was related to his health.

In an Associated Press article from 2 November 1962, television-radio writer Cynthia Lowry reported that Raymond Burr was going to hospital in December for "minor corrective surgery." She also reported that big name guest stars (including Bette Davis) would take his place. An Associated Press article from 11 February 1963 by Bob Thomas sheds a bit more light on the situation. In the article it is reported that Raymond Burr was returning to Perry Mason after recuperating from surgery to remove intestinal polyps. While the article reported that the polyps were cancerous, the books Hiding in Plain Sight: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr by Michael Seth Starr and Raymond Burr: A Film, Radio and Television Biography by Ona L. Hill state that the polyps were benign. As might be expected, the four episodes without Raymond Burr varied somewhat in quality. By far the best is "The Case of Constant Doyle." While the episode's plot could have been stronger, it is enlivened by the presence of Bette Davis (the "Constant Doyle" of the title), probably the biggest star to ever appear on the show.

Constant Doyle is the sort of character that Miss Davis always played well, a wisecracking, whip smart, and somewhat cantankerous woman who still cares about her fellow human beings. The following episodes were not quite as good, even though the guest stars gave good performances. In "The Case of the Libelous Locket" Michael Rennie played Edward Lindley, a law school professor who finds himself defending one of his students. While Mr. Rennie did a great job as Professor Lindley, the case was not particularly interesting. In "The Case of the Two-Faced Turn-a-bout" Hugh O'Brian gave a solid performance as playboy, entertainment lawyer Bruce Jason. The problem is that the episode could well be one of the most far fetched ever produced for Perry Mason. "The Case of the Surplus Suitor," featuring Walter Pidgeon as attorney Sherman Hatfield is perhaps the best of the four episodes besides "The Case of Constant Doyle." Mr. Pidgeon was very convincing as a defence attorney, and the episode had the best mystery of any of the four without Perry Mason.

Raymond Burr's surgery having taken place on 10 December 1962, he returned to work on Perry Mason in February 1963. Perry Mason was back at work on the episode "The Case of the Golden Oranges," which aired 7 March 1963. The four episodes produced while Raymond Burr recovered from his surgery would not be the last to be produced without him. "The Case of the Bullied Bowler" had Mike Connors (later of Mannix fame) filling in for Raymond Burr as attorney Joe Kelly. According to Raymond Burr: A Film, Radio and Television Biography by Ona L. Hill, the reason that Mr. Burr did not appear in the episode was that he was out with infected teeth. Raymond Burr would also be absent in the episode "The Case of the Thermal Thief," where his place was taken by Barry Sullivan as lawyer Kenneth W. Kramer. According to Raymond Burr: A Film, Radio and Television Biography by Ona L. Hill, Raymond Burr was absent from this episode due to illness. Raymond Burr would miss no more episodes of Perry Mason, and the show ended its run with its ninth season.

The final new episode aired on 22 May 1966. Curiously, when the series entered syndication in autumn 1966, the four episodes made while Raymond Burr was recovering from surgery during the sixth season were not made available for syndication. They would not be seen again until TBS bought the rights to air them in the mid-Eighties. They have been seen as part of the syndication run of Perry Mason ever since. While it might seem odd for the producers of Perry Mason to make episodes that did not feature Raymond Burr as the famous attorney, there would be an attempt to make a series featuring Perry Mason, but without Raymond Burr in the role. The New Perry Mason starred Monte Markham as the crime solving lawyer, and debuted only seven years after the original series had left the air. It lasted only fifteen episodes, deubting on 16 September 1973 and last airing on 20 January 1974. There appear to have been several reasons for the failure of The New Perry Mason. The show was scheduled against two ratings powerhouses, The Wonderful World of Disney on NBC and The F.B.I. on ABC. The New Perry Mason also got poor reviews.

In the end, however, one has to wonder if The New Perry Mason bombed simply because Raymond Burr wasn't there to play Perry Mason. The original Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr, would continue to air in syndication decades after The New Perry Mason was forgotten. Indeed, it is still in syndication. In 1985 Raymond Burr returned to his most famous role in a TV movie entitled Perry Mason Returns (although personally I think The Case of Perry Mason's Return would have been a better title). He would appear in 26 more television movies until his death in 1993. All 27 Perry Mason movies continue to air on TV stations and cable channels to this day. The character of Perry Mason may have been created by Erle Stanley Gardner, but it was a role that Raymond Burr made all his own. It then seems surprising that there were episodes of Perry Mason made in which Raymond Burr's presence was minimal at best. Scribbled by The Perry Mason TV Show Book (2.7) The History of the Show Emmys and Actors But criticism aside, most of the shows were highly entertaining and relatively intelligent.

And in Burr, Hale, Hopper, Talman, and Collins, the series could always boast great acting, as the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences the Emmy Awards people would testify. For the 1958-59 season, Raymond Burr won the Emmy for best actor in a dramatic series and Barbara Hale won for best supporting actress. Burr won it again in 1961. The show also established a proving ground for actors and actresses who would later go on to their own successes. "The Case of the Treacherous Toupï¿½e" featured a young Robert Redford. "The Case of the Counterfeit Crank" featured a younger Burt Reynolds. Film actors such as Ryan O'Neal, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, and James Coburn showed up on episodes usually as either defendants or killers. Performers who would later make their mark on TV Barbara Eden, Werner Klemperer, Francis Bavier, Leonard Nimoy, Gary Collins, Gavin MacLeod, Jerry Van Dyke, Daniel Travanti, Barbara Bain, Paul Picerni, Jim Davis, Angie Dickinson, Dick Clark, Adam West, and many, many others-made early appearances on the Mason show.

When minor surgery for Raymond Burr forced him to miss several episodes in 1963, Gail Jackson brought in some high-level people Bette Davis, Walter Pidgeon, Michael Rennie to fill in as lawyer friends of Perry's who were handling his caseload while he was "away in Europe." (When asked if any of the guest lawyers would actually lose a case, Jackson replied: "Our aim in 'Perry Mason' has always been that justice prevails. If justice would prevail by having [the guest lawyer] losing a case, we would not object." It didn't happen, though.) The Mason experience left two impressions on Bette Davis. One, she felt she didn't need to see a script before she accepted the job ("It's a formula show and I know the formula"); and two, the fast pace of the show's filming left her breathless ("There aren't even any rehearsals!").

Question: Which lawyer made Raymond Burr famous?
Answer: Perry Mason